Representative Japanese transverse flutes include the kagurabue, the komabue, the ryū teki, the nōkan, and the shinobue, while representative vertical flutes include the shakuhachi, the hichiriki, and the shō. The komabue, ryū teki, hichiriki, shō, and shakuhachi came from the Asian mainland as gagaku instruments. The kagurabue, however, is said to have existed in Japan before the importation of gagaku, and is also known as the yamatobue.

The wind chambers of these wind instruments are all made from bamboo. When bamboo dries, however, it cracks easily. To prevent this, and to beautify the appearance, the outside surface of the instrument is wrapped in cherry bark or birch bark and then coated with lacquer. The shinobue and shakuhachi, however, maintain the appearance of natural bamboo. Except for the nōkan, which is unique, the wind chamber for many Japanese wind instruments is constructed from natural, unfinished bamboo. The resulting sonorities cannot be calculated, as with completely cylindrical or conical tubes it is necessary to adjust the intonation after making the instrument. The mouthpieces are simple and seldom have any mechanical features. This simplicity, however, results in timbral nuances seldom found in Western instruments. These “imperfections” are part of the instrument, creating what is considered a magical sound quality.

Each of the wind instruments has distinctive characteristics that will be discussed in this chapter. Discussions of the tempuku and hitoyogiri, however (instruments rarely used in concert and close to vanishing), have been omitted.

There is an instrument often used among the Ainu people of Hokkaido called the mukuri. In standard Japanese, this instrument is known as the kokin. A type of Jaw's harp, it is made from long, thin bamboo (sometimes metal) with a deep cut in the middle of the instrument body where the lips are placed. The left edge is held with the left hand allowing the right hand to pull a string on the right edge of the instrument; the fissure vibrates, and the mouth cavity functions as a resonating chamber. As in speech, if the shape of the mouth cavity is changed while playing, the sound changes accordingly.

Occasionally, shakuhachi performers use an instrument called the takebora, which is made from one hollowed node of naturally thick bamboo. While the instrument can produce only one pitch, it is possible to cover a lower range unavailable on any of the normal shakuhachi, hence its usefulness.